Spider-Man 2 4K Screening Nixed

Sony Pictures’ highly touted, invitation-only 4K digital cinema screening of the blockbuster superhero sequel, Spider-Man 2, will not go on as planned. Originally scheduled to take place in Hollywood the evening of Thursday, Jan. 13, the coming out party for Sony Electronics’ new digital projection system has been postponed due to damage the prototype projector suffered in shipping from Sony’s Atsugi Laboratory in Japan.

With its high-flying action sequences and stunning digital effects work, Spider-Man 2 was chosen to be the first major motion picture to be presented using the uncompressed 4K Digital Projection System. The new projector is powered by advanced visualization and shared storage systems from Silicon Graphics. It uses a Silicon X-tal Reflective Display (SXRD) imaging panel to achieve a 4096 x 2160 pixel resolution, nearly four times the pixel count of current HD displays.

The exclusive screening at the Entertainment Technology Center in Hollywood was to be preceded by a panel discussion with key crew members, including editor Bob Murawski, sound designer and sound effects editor Paul Ottosson, supervising sound mixers Greg Russell and Kevin O’Connell, and visual effects supervisors John Dykstra and Scott Stokdyk.

Sony hopes to announce on Jan. 14 a reschedule date for the screening. The approximately 300 people invited to the event will probably be holding rain tickets until early February. Despite the unforeseen setback, Sony insists that the new projection systems will be ready to hit the cinema market in March.